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Paint The Park Pink To Benefit Breast Health Education

The campus green will be covered in pink as the community prepares for the sixth annual Paint the Park Pink.

Hosted by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Ozark affiliate, the Paint the Park Pink event on Sept. 22 on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, 5210 Grand Ave., will be highlighted by a Family Fun Walk, along with a Survivor’s Breakfast, live music and a kids’ play area, according to C.B. Graham, who co-chairs the event with Nancy Ciulla. Honorary chairs Patricia Brown and Vonda Garner will lead activities throughout the day.

Graham said the traditional Survivor’s Breakfast will kick off at 8 a.m. in the Reynolds Room of the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center. Registered survivors are encouraged to bring a registered co-survivor to the breakfast, which will feature a light buffet, entertainment and door prizes.

“At the Survivor’s Breakfast, we usually have snacks, but this year it will be a full, catered, hot breakfast,” Graham said.

Following the breakfast, a Survivor Parade will lead participants to the Bell Tower stage, where a brief program will commence before the one-mile walk around the campus begins at 10 a.m.

For the enjoyment of younger supporters, an expanded Kids for the Cure Area will offer a play area.

“The kids’ games will be really great this year,” said Graham. “It should be a lot of fun for the kids.”

Live music will be performed following the walk, which raises funds for breast-care services in Fort Smith and the surrounding area.

Teresa Jones, outreach coordinator for the Komen Ozark affiliate, said last year’s walk raised $94,000 to provide breast-care services in the area; since it was established in Fort Smith in 2007, Paint the Park Pink has raised nearly $350,000 for the Komen Ozark affiliate, which is used to fund grants for mammograms, gas cards, educational programs and research to find the cure for breast cancer.

“Seventy-five percent of the money stays local to provide breast-care services,” Jones said, adding that the other 25 percent goes to the national organization for research to help find cures to end breast cancer. The Komen Ozark affiliate serves Crawford, Sebastian, Washington, Benton, Boone, Carrol, Madison and Newton counties in Arkansas, along with Stone and Taney counties in Missouri.

Earlier this year, Komen Ozark granted $750,000 to area facilities to help provide services for underinsured or uninsured women. Jones said with Komen funding assistance, these grantees are able to provide diagnostic and screening mammograms, biopsies, mastectomies, wigs, turbans, lymphedema supplies and emergency funds for prescriptions, rent and mortgage.

Graham said an event of this magnitude could not be produced if not for the hundreds of volunteers who give of their time, many of whom are survivors or family members of cancer patients or survivors.

“Every year, our volunteer base just seems to grow and grow,” Graham said. “So many people want to help with this.”

She also said organizers are hopeful that registration numbers will pick up to be able to exceed last year’s numbers. More than 1,300 are expected to register for the event.

Registration for adults is $20, UAFS students is $15 and registration for children ages 6 and up is $10 with a student ID. Participants and survivors can register at www.komenozark.org or call the Ozark affiliate office at (479) 430-4365 to request a registration form. Registration forms may also be picked up at the Komen Ozark’s Fort Smith office, 1508 Rogers Ave.

The Paint the Park Pink event kicks off a series of “pink” events held in the area throughout the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.